EP 0 413 089 A has disclosed a continuous installation for handling piece goods, in the case of which a plurality of handling sections are arranged, with a large amount of time being required, in segments parallel to one another, the piece goods being divided up thereon.
A component-fitting apparatus with additional conveying sections for the substrates has been disclosed, for example, by WO99/59389 A. According to the latter, the additional conveying sections are intended to subdivide long assembly lines into a plurality of segments in which a printed circuit board can be fitted out completely in each case. Provision is made here for an additional transporting level to be introduced beneath a component-fitting section, two conveying sections located one beside the other on said transporting level serving for feeding the substrates to the sub-segments and for removing the finished substrates from the sub-segments. Transfer arrangements are arranged upstream and downstream of the sub-segments and can transfer the substrates between the various sections. This means that the transfer arrangement has to be capable of displacement not just in height but also laterally, which is associated with a correspondingly high level of drive-related and guidance-related outlay.
In particular in the case of wide printed circuit boards, it is necessary to provide, for the two conveying sections, an installation width which results in an increase in the structural width of the component-fitting apparatus and thus in an increase in the standing surface area. There is thus also an increase in the distance between the component-fitting area and the peripherally provided feed arrangements for the electrical components. The displacement paths of a component-fitting head become correspondingly larger, as a result of which the component-fitting capacity decreases.